Interlude
by Lemon Drops
Summary: Takes place after the Guilty Gear X2 storyline. After all the fighting, it’s time to regroup and rest up for the next challenge... Hints of KyJam and AnjiBaiken.


_Disclaimer: no ownage of characters from the Guilty Gear series or the series itself. Darn.  
_

_Dedicated to my sister, who wouldn't stop bugging me about writing a GG fic. Even if I've never played the game... Yeah, you heard right. I've not yet played, nor even knew this section even existed. My apologies, as I haven't gotten around to reading any stories here either. But anyway, if the characters are a bit... 'off,' not that they're already off the wall in the first place, sorry. It's supposed to be slightly humorous anyway. Supposed to be..._

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**Title: Interlude**

**Chapter: Prelude  
**

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The brown haired chef put on a pained smile as she tried in vain to ignore the yelling just outside her kitchen. Smiling helped stop the gagging reflex at least. And most certainly her latest tenants were making her sick! Elbow deep in hot water and suds, the many dirty pots and pans were at her mercy as she loudly scrubbed them clean of the bits of dried food that stuck like glue. If she could only do the same to her workers— dunk them in hot water and scrub their skin raw! 

"Cheater! You cheated Axl!" yelled a certain ninja, currently and obviously enraged. Red eyes glared down at the mass of long, yellow hair currently sticking in all directions. His muscles burned as he fought with all his might to keep hold of the squirming mischief maker.

"Admit that you cheated! That I'm the winner!" But before the Japanese wannabe could get the answer he so desired, he found that the world had suddenly been turned upside down, and him unable to adjust. With a crash, the spiky haired young man stared up in momentary awe of the twilight sky. _The hell!?_

"Nya ha hah ha hah! You may be a ninja, but when it comes down to fighting dirty, I'm king!" the escapee shouted triumphantly as he pranced to the other side of the patio, picking up his fallen red bandana on the way. Looking over his shoulder, he called out another taunt. "I've been fighting punks like you on the streets since I was... Umph!" his shoulder grazed something unexpectedly. Two sets of legs wobbled awkwardly for a moment before setting themselves straight. "Huh? What was..." The young blonde man muttered before blue eyes widened in surprise and absolute fear. _Oh god, I'm gonna die! _"Nya ha ha! S-s-sorry about that..." he apologized nervously while gripping his bandana tightly, fearing what was to come.

A lone, angry, peach eye narrowed hatefully. All day she had done her best to ignore the idiot punk, but now... she could no longer over look his stupidity. "Fool!" she growled like a lioness, her arm lashing forward with the speed of such a feline. In only the amount of time it took a normal person to snap their fingers, the rounin had caught the troublemaker in a tight headlock. Despite him flopping around like a fish out of water, the predator held her prey like any expert huntress- with raw power, experience, and with an air of dignity.

Another figure watched on in mild horror of the scene taking place before his eyes. Part of him wanted to intervene, to prevent the early death of his friend, but the part of him that valued life told him to keep quiet and to continue sweeping. Unfortunately, in situations such as these, his emotional mouth was too quick for his logical mind to keep up with. "Now, now Baiken, we can't have you killing him before he finishes cleaning the tables. Otherwise, we'll have even more chores to do at the end of the day. Yes?" he suggested with a nervous smile.

Ignoring the screams and struggling of her current victim, said woman adjusted the aim of her almost lethal gaze so that it now burned into the fellow Japanese whom had addressed her. "What difference would it make Anji?" she growled in her usual low tone, "He doesn't do his chores anyway."

"But I don't want to go through all the trouble of hiding another body Baiken," Anji replied half jokingly, half serious. "Especially after today. I'm worn out. And we still have half the place to clean, thanks to someone's doing." An agitated look was thrown the blonde's way, who now appeared to be fighting the effects of blood loss to his head. The poor fellow was almost completely limp in her arm.

"I'll help you get rid of that dumb ass!" Both Baiken and Anji turned to face the only owner of such an outburst.

"See, even the ninja agrees with me," she added smugly, despite the fact that she hated being on the same side of the once druggy.

"Yeah! And that says something when a ninja and a samurai agree together on something!" said ninja added passionately, his finger pointing at poor Axl. A deep sigh escaped unanimously from both the dancer and sword wielder's mouths.

"I am not a samurai!" the woman objected gruffly. Why did people continue to refer her as such? "And you are not a ninja, Chipp." she added snappily, her words as sharp as her sword as they pierced the young man's ego.

"Bullshit! God damn it! I am so a ninja!" he hissed, throwing what would have been his blade equipped arm forward out of habit. The bare skin of his arm did little to intimidate, and he cursed himself for his awkward stance. _Shit! Way to go dumb ass!_ Red eyes glared resentfully, but disappeared with the rest of him in a storm of leaves. "Why the hell don't you think I am!?" he roared, now standing a few feet directly in front of the red haired woman.

"Now Chipp, Baiken..." Anji nervously interjected, his hands held nervously in front him, palms outward. Thankfully, for him at least, he went unheard. With a slight groan, the thief adjusted his glasses and returned to his sweeping. _At least Jam took away their weapons_, he thought in all thankfulness. "Still, both of you shouldn't be fighting right now. Especially if Jam hears us..."

"Geez," she merely muttered, appearing neither amused nor phased by his tantrum. Axl's unconscious form fell to the floor with a loud 'plod' as she brought up her hand to her ringing left ear and massaged the tender area just above the hinge of her jaw. "I was going to say it's because you're not Japanese," she started, and then paused, a serious frown, almost a sneer, playing on her lips. "But now I think you're simply too loud and hot-blooded to be a ninja." Instinctively, her hand fell back to its proper place around the hilt of her sword, only to find the old, worn material of her attire. Mentally she cursed, feeling once more the uneasiness that came with being without her katana. _At least_, as a fellow warrior, _Chipp is most_ _likely feeling the same naked, vulnerable feeling as well_, she rationalized.

"BITCH!"

Ki flames erupted around a shuddering fist. A metal tri-bladed claw peeked out from its hiding place inside a long, tattered sleeve. Both clashed in an alarming display of speed and power, but not against one another. Two large fans blocked the way of both attacks, throwing the two fighters off with their sudden appearance. Unable to glare at one another, they turned their heated gaze of Anji's calm, but stern expression.

A loud fit of laughter interrupted the moment, leaving the dancer's mouth to hang open momentarily before shutting back together to form an annoyed frown. _Great... just what we need._ All eyes landed on a certain blonde holding his gut, tears forming in his eyes, and crawling on the ground. The three standing individuals collectively and momentarily wondered how Axl had managed to slip under their noses.

"Shut up idiot!" Chipp errupted angrily, again throwing his arm out in front of him before he could think twice. "You're the one who started this whole damn mess in the first place!"

"NO! YOU SHUT UP!" an even scarier voice screamed in a high pitched tone. Arms dripping with suds and dirty water to her elbows, the furious cook glared at her four workers from inside the small stand that was her newest 'restaurant.' "ALL OF YOU SHUT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!" Threateningly she pointed a large, heavy wok in their direction, still soaking wet, using only her right arm and hand to hold it up.

Despite the eerie silence that had overtaken Axl, the twitch in Chipp's eye, and the sour look on Baiken's face, none dared to talk back or object to their newly given, or rather repeated, orders. "Yes m'am, Miss Jam!" Anji dared to speak up in a sing song sort of tone while putting his fans away. Instantly, now that their barrier was gone, the un-ninja and not-samurai threw dirty looks at one another.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," a new voice spoke up, slightly amused but not surprised in the least at the scene he had stumbled upon. His very presence sent smiles to three of his fellow fighter's faces, and did manage to stop the other two's staring contest. "Sorry for taking so long. Is there anything I can help with?" he soon added while glancing around the area and quickly noting that almost everything still needed to be done.

Leaping over her booth, the young cook sprinted quickly for the blonde officer, leaving a wake strong enough to rustle everyone else's clothes and hair to one side. "Ky! No, don't worry about anything! They've got it covered," Jam answered cheerfully as she came to a stop just a few feet before him. The look of slight fear on his face did not deter her from then latching onto his arm and leading him back into the booth. "Would you like some tea? I have some already made just for you," she chatted happily.

"Um, if it is not a bother," he politely and correctly answered. He knew from experience that it was never good to tell Jam 'no.' But then again, it was hard to tell her 'no' in the first place, and this carried over into many other things other than just drinking tea. With a nervous smile, Ky Kisuke, minus the white coat, tried to ignore the warm, dirty water that dripped from Jam's arms and onto his own. Ew.

"Gee, glad to see where we stand on her list of priorities," Axl muttered in whisper to the others standing near-by as Jam and Ky walked into the food stall/home that temporarily sheltered them all. But as soon as they were out of sight, the usually obnoxiously loud blonde returned to his normal tone and demeanor. "Ah! But I can't blame the girl! She's got it made now! A new home and restaurant... A boyfriend and a group of slaves to order around! Now that's the life!"

"Ah, indeed," Anji joined in with a dreamy sigh. "Maybe someday we'll be as lucky, eh? To settle down, get a house, a wife, and a few kids..." With a sappy expression on his face, the dancer turned to glance back at his fellow Japanese coworker. Not surprising, neither his target nor the American standing close by appeared to share the same warm fuzzy feeling of future hopes and dreams.

"How pathetic," Baiken spoke up first, hand on her hip and eyebrows raised in skepticism.

To her reply, Chipp nodded his head in full agreement. "Yeah, who still believes in that old-time, traditional kinda shit anyway?" he added, hand in the air as he smugly shrugged.

"Well why don't you two share with us your hopes and dreams for the future then?" the fan user retorted, arms crossed and sulking from his own dream being made fun of. _And weren't you two_ just _about to kill one another anyway_? Hmph!

Too easy. "Revenge," they answered in unison. After a spilt second awkward pause, the two then faced one another again in a glaring contest.

Anji sighed. _Gee, what a surprise_, he thought to himself. "Okay then, what about after your revenge? Then what?" To that question, both Chipp and Baiken turned and looked at the thief as if he had grown an extra head. "Chipp, you can't let the way of the ninja die out, right? You'll have to organize and lead a clan someday! That means you'll have to find a female of the species and create even more little ninjas so the breed won't die out." Smugly, Anji nudged his stunned friend with an elbow.

This was a night to remember. Even Baiken had to give way to a small smirk that forced its way to her lips. For the first and only time ever that they knew of, Chipp was momentarily at a loss for words, a small blush spread across his cheeks. "But I'd also planned to become president," he muttered quietly in bashful embarrassment. Both Anji and Axl grinned madly at the scene. Baiken, however, snorted mockingly, before trying to discretely walk away from the group..

"Hey! Who says you can't do both?" the time traveler interjected, chuckling lightly while tying back on his red bandanna. "Study, train, find a girl, study, train, make babies, study, train, become president... Phew, glad that's your life and not mine."

"And what about you Baiken?" a sly looking Anji asked innocently enough, as if he hadn't been secretly watching her sneak off and hopefully be forgotten. Bringing out a small fan to hide all but his eyes behind, the dancer was able to keep his wide grin hidden from the currently irked rounin.

"What about me?" she questioned back threateningly, her pipe now out, lit, and clenched between her teeth. It was her way of giving Anji a chance to either shut up or change the subject. _Why, oh why, do I keep giving him second chances_?

Hehe. The dancer could hardly contain a chuckle. _She usually just tells us to shut up, or doesn't answer at all_, he mentally noted. Against his better judgment, he pressed forward. "What do you plan to do after taking your revenge?" he again addressed, an eyebrow raised and fan slowly waving in front of his face.

"Hn!" She voiced scornfully, not at all amused that he decided to continue prodding her for information. _Of course, that is Anji for you_. No one spoke or even moved as she took in a long drag from her pipe, paused, and then exhaled the smoke. To everyone one present, she took the form of a dragon. But what kind, they weren't sure. Would she come back to bite them all in the ass and then roast them with her fiery attitude? Or would she prove them lucky this night, and share a bit of her treasured dreams? "Well, supposing I don't die then..." she spoke in a thoughtful, serious tone, "Then I suppose I'll just fade away sooner or later. Hopefully I'll die an honorable death at the hands of a Gear I've just killed." A small grin slid onto her face as a sense of gloominess overtook the patio. Hey, he asked for it, he got it.

Awkward. That's what everyone aside her was feeling. A pair of red eyes and a pair of blue exchanged glances before stopping on a pair of cunning brown.

"But Baiken," Anji finally spoke up, breaking the moment of silence after having quickly thrown together an idea. His sly smile canceled her own, and a wagging finger aggravated her to no end. "You're our only hope to combat the ninja spawn from Chipp here. If there's an imbalance in the ninja to samurai ratio, who knows what will happen to the world!" That said, the world grew unnaturally silent once more. Even the crickets refused to sing. It was a bad omen for the dancer, who was partially shocked, along with everyone else, that he had said something like that in the first place.

Thankfully, it was Anji's two friends to come to his rescue. Risking their own safety, their plan started with soft snickers before exploding into loud, gut hurting, bouts of laughter. Actually, on second thought, the thief quickly deducted that it wasn't really a plan. It was more of an act of stupidity. But it still worked to some extent.

"Miss Samurai-lady a..." Axl giggled out between laughs.

"Mom?" Chipp finished for his time-traveling friend, a smirk on his face.

"Nya ha hah! That's frightening! Can you imagine what they would be like!? I mean! With her attitude and all! Man! I wouldn't my kids to associate with them!"

"Heh! Then maybe you can hire my kids to protect your kids! That'd be good training..." the ninja replied, at first teasingly, but curiously serious at the end as he trailed off into thought about such an idea.

"SHUT UP!" A small squeak escaped from Axl's mouth as all three men gulped and stared at the monster they had created. However, something seemed amiss. The usual glare was there, accompanied by its usual companion the deep frown, and yet, another facial expression was also present- one very rarely seen, if ever by at least two of the three present.

"Baiken, are you..." Anji spoke softly, using his fan as a shield to hide his words from the others. "Blushing?"

"NO!" Quickly the red head turned around to hide her face from the others. How humiliating. Hand over her forehead, she'd never forgive herself, or them, for what occurred this night. But mostly them, as they'd be sure to bring this up for the rest of her life now. Ugh... Idiots!

"Aww... You should blush more. It's sooo cute!" the fox faced dancer added, albeit too loudly.

"Sooooo cuuuuute!" Axl mimicked loudly while batting his eyelashes in an exaggerated manner and bringing his hands up to his cheeks. "Nya ha hah!"

Wham! The slamming of a door sent all four workers scrambling to look busy, but failing miserably, as Axl slammed face first into fist, allegedly by coincidence. "THERE IS WAY TOO MUCH LAUGHING AND NOT ENOUGH WORK GETTING DONE! UNLESS YOU FIND BEING KICKED OUT TO THE STREETS FUNNY!" A rabid Jam screamed, clenching her soapy fists and shaking one of them threateningly at the group of slackers. "NOW GET BACK TO WORK! UNLESS YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF SPENDING THE REST OF THE NIGHT CLEANING!"

"Yes M'am!"

With a collective sigh, after a few more hours of cleaning, fighting, and horseplay, at last the group got to see their beds. Just in time for a quick six hours of sleep too. In the morning, it would be life all over again, working at Jam's _Roasted Fresh Dragon Reborn_.

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_Hope you've somewhat enjoyed this little preview of what might come. I don't make guarantees anymore because I'm not a very motivated, active writer. These things take forever for me to write. That and I'm easily distracted. And lazy. And I hate, absolutely hate commitment to things. But anyway, feel free to comment on my sucky writing skills. I'm trying to get better, so any tips or advice would be appreciated. Flames are welcome too, cause they only make you look bad, not me. p And they only help me more with review count. xD Muhahaha..._

_Oh, one more thing. You may notice a severe lack of Japanese in my stories. I apologize, but I am simply not comfortable using a language I barely comprehend. You are all welcome to try and convert me, but even then it just doesn't seem right. I don't know why, but yeah..._

_My thanks to my sister, GameFAQs, and _

_To be continued...?_


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